This consultation is now closed. The results and outcomes report is available at the bottom of this page.
Halton Borough Council and Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals are consulting on proposals to create a new Health Hub at nearby Runcorn Shopping City. From this hub, WHH is planning to offer Ophthalmology, Audiology, and Dietetics outpatient appointments.
Offering these services in a retail environment aims to make it easier for patients to access these services, some of which will be expanded to offer a greater range of tests and additional appointments. Halton residents will no longer have to travel out of borough to receive care.
Audiology and Ophthalmology are moving just 300 meters from Halton Hospital’s outpatients to the Shopping City while Dietetics is moving from St Paul’s Health Centre a distance of 3.5km served by public transport.
Current staff will relocate with their services and there will be no change to staffing levels. The vacated space at Halton Hospital will be reallocated to clinically appropriate services – either those that require additional space or those that are relocating from Warrington, in line with the Trust’s plan of expanding and further developing Halton as its dedicated elective site – much of which is already underway as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
No estate will be lost or decommissioned at Halton Hospital and this proposal will support our plans to further develop Halton as a dedicated site for elective procedures and surgery. No services are moving from Warrington Hospital as part of these proposals.
This consultation follows a public engagement exercise carried out in March 2021 to which there were more than 300 responses and the feedback from which has been factored into our Runcorn Shopping City health hub plans.
To read the full consultation document about the proposals and FAQs click here
Ophthalmic Services
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Ophthalmology’s proposed initial plan is to move services currently being delivered at Halton Hospital to Runcorn Shopping City. This includes Paediatric Orthoptic and Optometry clinics and Paediatric Visual Processing Clinics.
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This plan also includes replicating some services that are currently delivered only at Warrington Hospital at Runcorn Shopping City. These include: Glaucoma assessment clinics, cataract pre-and post-operative clinics, ophthalmic primary care clinics (new patients only) and neuro-ophthalmology clinics.
- There are also plans to introduce a new service not currently provided by the Trust at Runcorn Shopping City, which is the Hydroxychloroquine Screening Service. This new service is currently being developed in order to screen rheumatology patients to ensure their suitability for hydroxychloroquine treatment, and to routinely monitor those patients currently on the treatment for any visual complications.
Dietetics Services
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Dietetics’ initial proposed plan is to consolidate clinics that are currently held at both Halton Hospital and St Paul’s Health Centre and deliver these instead at Runcorn Shopping City.
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This includes two general paediatric clinics and five general adult clinics per week.
- This consolidation will provide a consistent and more accessible base for this service
Audiology Services
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Audiology plans an expansion of current services that are currently offered (and would continue to be offered) at Halton Hospital. This will allow more patients to be seen each week. The planned services for potential provision within Shopping City include assessment, fitting and repair of hearing aids, helping to reduce waits for these appointments and enabling provision in a potentially more convenient location.
This document provides the outcomes of our consultation on providing services at Runcorn Shopping City.